Interfacial and Droplet Dynamics

Exploring the bulk dynamics of a fluid can tell us a lot about its overall behavior and flow, but real-world fluids do not exist in isolation; to characterize many natural phenomena, we need to also understand how a fluid interacts with adjacent media. While the bulk forces dominate in the limit of large bodies, as we approach the micro- and even mesoscopic scales relevant of everyday life, the surface dynamics become fantastically important.  At these scales, whether we have particles floating at an interface, surface tension gradients in an adjacent fluid, or local chemical reactions, interfacial effects can vastly change the behavior of a system.

Soap Films

Surface tension is conceptually simple to understand, and its effects are easily observed with readily available materials in a kitchen. Yet, its quantitative analysis, both theoretical and experimental, is fraught with difficulties, particularly when it involves Marangoni flows driven by surface tension gradients. In particular, we are interested in interfacial flows in the context of flowing soap films, which simultaneously represent both a quasi two-dimensional fluid as well as an elastic membrane in the same system.

  1. MM Bandi, JR Cressman Jr., WI Goldburg, H Kellay, "Where surface physics and fluid dynamics meet: Rupture of an amphiphile layer at the air-water interface", J. Chem. Phys. 124, 104701 (2006).
  2. MM Bandi, T Tallinen and L Mahadevan, "Shock-driven jamming and periodic fracture of particulate rafts", Europhys. Lett. 96, 36008 (2011).
  3. MM Bandi, A Concha, R Wood and L Mahadevan, "A pendulum in a flowing soap film", Phys. Fluids. 25, 041702 (2013).
  4. C Peco, W Chen, Y Liu, MM Bandi , JE Dolbow, and E Fried, "Influence of surface tension in the surfactant-driven fracture of closely-packed particulate monolayers"  Soft Matter 13, 5832 (2017).
  5. S Basu, A Yawar, A Concha and MM Bandi, "On angled bounce-off impact of a drop impinging on a flowing soap film" Fluid Dyn. Res. 49, 065509 (2017). 
  6. MM Bandi, VS Akella, DK Singh, RS Singh and S Mandre, "Hydrodynamic signatures of stationary Marangoni-driven surfactant transport" Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 264501 (2017).
  7. VS Akella, DK Singh, S Mandre and MM Bandi, "Dynamics of a camphoric acid boat at the air-water interface" Phys. Lett. A 382, 1176 (2018).
  8. MM Bandi, "Tension grips the flow" J. Fluid Mech. 846, 1 (2018).